Distance of a Square & Close Contact

Exhibition Durations:  Sept 3 – Nov 20

We are pleased to invite you to join 1628 Ltd. to view our newest fall exhibitions. For the first time in our exhibition history, 1628 will be splitting our floors to put on two distinct exhibitions. 

The first floor will house the exhibition Distance of a Square, featuring local and national artists  Jane Alden Stevens, Tracey Longley-Cook, Janelle Young and Christine Zuercher. The second floor exhibition is titled Close Contact: Photography, Nature, and the Alternative Process, and will feature local and national artists Linda Alterwitz, Emily Barnett, Anita Douthat, Luke Kindle, and Kirsten Ledbetter.

Distance of a Square

One of the fundamental rules that govern photography is the Inverse Square Law. The intensity of light is inversely proportional to the distance it travels. This exhibition seeks to examine the effect of distance on the act of photographing. This idea of distance can be metaphorical or conceptual. Distance could be physical distance or a distance of memory. Distance’s effect on sharpness or softness on things like shadows or vision. Distance’s effect on color such as the blue of the distance.

Distance of a Square features the work of local and national artists  Jane Alden Stevens, Tracey Longley-Cook, Janelle Young and Christine Zuercher.

Close Contact: Photography, Nature, and the Alternative Process

Photography as a medium has been used to document and record nature since its invention in the early 19th century. Photography is connected to nature not just as the photographic subject, but in its dependence on light to create an image.

Light is the activator for growth in nature, and the activator in both lens-based photography and alternative process photography. In lens-based photography, light is captured and recorded to create an image, so the natural world can be captured in real time. Alternative photographic processes, like cyanotypes and photograms, have been used by early botanists to record plant life, by exposing light sensitive paper with collected objects arranged on top, leaving a silhouette. Today, artists continue to use both lens-based photography and alternative processes that urge artists into close contact with nature, exploring the relationship that still exists with the natural world.

Linda Alterwitz and Emily Barnett both explore the natural world and our natural bodies using science diagrams and information to create photographic collages. Luke Kindle draws a narrative between the animal and person through his work. Kirsten Ledbetter and Anita Douthat study beauty in natural forms through cyanotypes and photograms. 

Through their work, these artists shed light on our interdependence with the natural world and its remaining mystic qualities that spur investigation and wonder inside ourselves.

Information on the opening receptions of these two exhibitions are subject to change. 1628 will be releasing a formal press release in regards to our plan for ticketing the exhibition and following strict distancing guidelines. 

We would like to thank Fotofocus for their donation to 1628 in the form of the Emergency Art Grant.